Mike Heron & the Trembling Bells at Exeter Phoenix

A week ago we ventured out reluctantly (given the temperatures) to see Mike Heron and the Trembling Bells at Exeter Phoenix. It had been billed as a standing gig, so we were relieved to find that the venue had actually been laid out with tables & chairs and that the evening was not going to be a repeat of the Johnny Marr sweat-bath a week or so earlier. I must admit that I wasn't familiar with the Trembling Bells and that my knowledge of Mike Heron really dated from Changing Horses - an album recorded after Heron and Williamson had given up drugs and converted to scientology which, unsurprisingly, was not regarded as one of the Incredible String Band's best.

However, from the moment that they took the stage we could see that we were in for a good night. Although most of the Mike Heron songs predated my String Band days, his unique delivery was unmistakeable and the arrangement of the songs by the drummer, Alex Neilson, was appropriately hippyish, with plenty of percussive and other folky effects. As luck would have it we found ourselves sitting next to Deb and Jez Winship. Jez has done a brilliant review of the gig on his blog Sparks in Electrical Jelly which traces the origins of many of the songs to relevant String Band albums and also fills in with information about the Trembling Bells material. So rather than try to top that (as if I could) I have just posted below a selection of photographs from the evening:

I've just looked back at my blog and it was April 2012  when we saw John Renbourn & Robin Williamson at the Phoenix. That gig was a bit disappointing (although Renbourn's guitar playing was masterful) and as a result I never posted any photos - but I may get around to doing that soon. Suffice it to say that Mike Heron and the Trembling Bells provided a far more satisfying evening and I will be looking out some of those older String Band albums that Jez mentions in his review, as well as investigating the recorded output of the Bells. To finish up, here is a taste of Mike Heron and the Trembling Bells doing Log Cabin Home in the Sky at the Hyde Park Picture House:

TAAG in Teignmouth: Anna Grayson and Friends

It's a while since I've posted anything about TAAG in Teignmouth. Earlier this month, however, I saw the excellent exhibition Woman’s Voices – the Journey for Women in the Arts in the garage part of the gallery.

A tagine and other ceramics by Anna

The exhibition included a wide range of work, including some by Anna Grayson who, alongside me, has been attending the Access course in Art and Design at Exeter College over the past year.

Life painting by Anna

Next week Anna is putting on another show of her work and that of her friends, which should also be worth a look. The exhibition will include a number of names familiar to regular patrons of TAAG. I have reproduced below an article from the Teignmouth Post containing further details about Anna and the other contributors:

So if you are in Teignmouth next week - from Sunday July 28 - I recommend that you look into TAAG and check out what's on show.

Another of Anna's Tagines for Devon

Johnny Marr at Exeter Phoenix

Johnny Marr played Exeter last Friday. The Phoenix was packed and it was a hot evening. Marr played a set from his solo album, The Messenger, stuff from the Smiths repertoire, and one from his time with Electronic.

He was styled as an ageing mod - a younger Paul Weller (but still too old for the look). He soon shed his velvet jacket due to the heat. The audience included some middle-aged blokes intent upon reliving their pogoing youth, and students who seemed surprised by the antics of the older contingent.

Marr played his trademark jingle-jangle guitar. The solo stuff went down ok with the audience but often lacked musical hooks and relied upon thrash and strum. Nevertheless, he was astute enough to throw in some old favourites: Big mouth strikes again; I fought the law; There is a light that never goes out; and, memorably, Getting away with it, and How soon is now? Marr is no Morrissey vocally but he was good enough for the enthusiastic crowd.

At the end of the night the punters all had a good time and Marr & his band left them sweaty but happy. I didn't take any video but here is a clip of Johnny and band doing How Soon Is Now? on the Jimmy Fallon show:

Access to HE Summer Art Show 2013

The Exeter College Access Summer Art Show opened on the 17th June and continued through to 4th July 2013.  The preview was well attended. Everyone had a good time and many commented upon the diversity of the work.

 

I have posted photos of the exhibition and the preview event below (click on the links):

• Show preview event 27-6-13 
• Access to HE Summer Art Show: Selection of Work
• My exhibition boards  
• My exhibition pieces

Last Week: RB Kitaj at the Jewish Museum, Camden and 21-23 June: Teignmouth Folk Festival

Just a quick post to say that it is the last week of the RB Kitaj exhibition at the Jewish Museum in London. This is part of the Obsessions exhibition which previously showed at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. The other part is showing at the Pallant Gallery in Chichester and also finishes on the 16th June.

I saw the London exhibition a couple of weeks ago and, although it is relatively small, it is well worth the trip out to Camden to see work by a man who attended art school alongside Caulfield, Hockney and Blake, and was friends with Bacon, Auerbach and Freud. The museum has prepared a  Kitaj Trail leaflet which contains informative links between the Kitaj works and other exhibits in the museum.

Teignmouth Folk Festival

The good weather has come just in time for the Teignmouth Folk Festival which runs from 21st to 23rd June. The programme of over a dozen performers is now available on the Festival website and tickets can also be obtained in advance from there.

The sun shining on the Teignmouth Folk Festival 2006

The Festival is in its 15th year and usually has something for everyone, with Morris dancers and a number of free events, in addition to the the bigger acts in the main venues.

Lichtenstein at the Tate and Man Ray at the NPG (Final Weekend) + Layla Curtis at Spacex

Haven't had much of a chance to post recently due to Access course demands. However, thought it worth mentioning two exhibitions closing this weekend (Monday) which are definitely worth seeing if you are in London. These are: Man Ray at the National Portrait Gallery and Lichtenstein at Tate Modern.

The Lichtenstein retrospective is wide-ranging and is a great primer if you thought that he just copied from comics. There is a comprehensive catalogue but if you have limited means, or already have a Lichtenstein library, then there is a more modest Tate publication for £5 (on Amazon) which is pretty good value.

The Man Ray exhibition shows a large collection of his portraits covering socialites and celebrities over half a century. The biggest surprise to me was the small size of the photos - which contrasts dramatically with the way that the work of most photographers is displayed today. It's a great show but you may find yourself standing three deep and craning to be able to see the work.

Layla Curtis at Spacex

Finally, I would just mention the new show at Spacex, in Exeter. This is by Layla Curtis and there are two main elements. The first is Antipodes, an "ongoing interactive online and photographic project that pairs webcam images from places at opposite ends of the globe". The main gallery has photos illustrating this theme and the web-based part of the work can be viewed online at  http://antipodes.uk.com/.

A second piece, Tong Tana, is a video piece (over an hour long in its entirety) which follows the trail of a hunter in the Borneo rainforest via film shot using a head-mounted camera and stereo microphones, carried by a hunter. Once you don the headphones and start to share the experience of the rainforest it all becomes very real.

Both pieces are worthy additions to Layla's previous work (which can be seen on her website or can be accessed in this book/catalogue from the New Art Gallery, Walsall). They also complement another previously reported exhibition at Spacex: Topophobia.

Katy Dove at Spacex, Exeter

On Saturday 9th March Katy Dove's Thought Becomes Action opens at Spacex. On Wednesday evening the Spacex gallery assistants got to meet Katy and to see how the exhibition is taking shape.

Katy is a former psychology student and her work reflects this, exploring ideas relating to inner and outer mental space. At the same time her animation work is often both abstract and quirky.

The installation shows aspects of Katy's work from 2004 onwards including films, animation, music, sounds, photography, drawing and painting. The Spacex promotional video gives a taste of what can be seen:



At the opening on Saturday (9th March), from 4pm onwards, she will be in conversation with artist and curator Andrew Bick. The exhibition is on until the 4th of May.

The exhibition was only partially in place when the above was written. For a detailed review that describes Katy's show at Spacex and its influences see Jez Winship's blog Sparks in Electrical Jelly.

Later the same evening we saw the excellent and surreal Robyn Hitchcock at Exeter Phoenix. I'll post more pics and video shortly.

Laura White: We Can Have It All at Spacex, Exeter

Laura White’s We Can Have It All has been running for a couple of months at Spacex and is now entering its final fortnight (ending February 23).

The installation in the main gallery consists of an array of plasticised art works in the main gallery space and three photographic enlargements of trophies put together from mementos and ephemera in the second exhibition room.

White says that she worked for about six months on the assortment of objects on display in the main gallery and how they should be displayed at Spacex. The result is a visual collage (or is it bricolage?) made of art object pastiches. All the objects on display are familiar but are constructed, at least in part, in bright colours from a material closely resembling plasticine. Many are built around a ‘readymade’ tool or object from the home. The resulting work is then displayed on a plinth, elevating it to the heights of Art to be studied and critiqued. This is a clever piece of work which questions the way that we look at objects and the way that they are displayed. At the same time the installation is brightly coloured and playful, and resembles the corner of a crowded auction hall or a museum storage facility.

The second gallery space contains three large photographs. When she visited the gallery at the start of the exhibition Laura revealed her interest in ephemera and the mementos that we collect in the course of our lives. In this respect she is drawing upon material previously mined effectively by Peter Blake. However, rather than simply collecting and displaying this ephemera she has used them to build new Works of Art, and by photographing and enlarging them turns them into objects for which it is difficult for the viewer to estimate their size without examining them closely in detail. The photographs are not hung but are casually propped against the walls. Again, White challenges our assumptions about Art and the way it is displayed.

The exhibition is on for a further two weeks and is definitely worth a look. If you can’t get along to Spacex then the interactive exhibition tour is pretty good – However, it won't convey the issues of scale or of how each individual item is displayed in the way that the artist intended. There is no substitute for simply being there!

The exhibition guide has an excellent reading list for those who want to explore the themes of this work further.